The present disclosure relates generally to thermal management, and more particularly to thermal management for electronic systems aboard vehicles.
Thermal Management Systems (TMS) and Environmental Control Systems (ECS) for aircrafts are commonly sized for the worst case coincident design conditions of thermal load, heat sink temperature and availability, and power availability. Mission segments that may result in an unbalance between the load, heat sink and power include hot day ground operation at engine idle, hot day low altitude high speed dash, and high altitude top of descent. Depending on aircraft requirements and system architectures, the TMS and/or ECS may operate at significantly less than design capacity during the majority of the mission. This results in larger and heavier systems than would be required if the TMS and/or ECS were sized for mission average conditions.
In aircrafts, thermal loads are becoming increasing less steady-state and de-coupled from available power. One trend is the replacement of hydraulic flight controls with electronic flight controls. Thermal loads from electronic flight controls will peak on approach to landing when engine power settings and speed are reduced. Radar and other thermal loads from electronic systems may be high at any one part of the flight, regardless of engine power setting.